WalkDenver to Mayor Hancock: Make Federal Blvd a Safe Place to Travel Now, Not Later

Denver has a public health crisis: people are suffering violent deaths just trying to get around the city. But nowhere is the problem more stark than on Federal Boulevard, where drivers have killed 10 people in 2017 — six of them walking.

The fatality rate on Federal is 20 times that of other urban streets in Colorado, according to WalkDenver, Denver’s pedestrian advocacy organization.

Following the deaths of Raymond Sanchez and Tina Padilla in a three-day span late last month, WalkDenver is demanding that the Hancock administration make physical fixes to the street and enact policy changes to make Federal a safe place for everyone, rather than a speedway where people cross at the risk of death.

In a letter to its members, the group called on Hancock’s streets department to slow down drivers and prioritize people walking with simple engineering fixes, and to dedicate space for buses that would eliminate conflict between vehicles and people boarding and disembarking. WalkDenver also wants state legislators to broaden permitted use of electronic speed enforcement.

To meet these goals, WalkDenver is asking Hancock to make a “significant allocation” to Federal Boulevard in his 2018 budget, which he’ll unveil next week.

“These changes to Federal Boulevard are not luxuries that can wait ten years for possible funding when the City considers another GO Bond – hundreds of people could die during that timeframe if we do nothing,” WalkDenver writes. “Action is urgently needed to protect the health and well-being of Denver’s residents, particularly the most vulnerable: children, older adults, people with disabilities, and low-income families that rely on walking, biking, and transit to meet their daily needs.”

WalkDenver is taking its campaign for a safer Federal directly to Hancock and residents in hopes of swift action. Here are WalkDenver’s recommendations, which the group says “the city should undertake immediately”:

Dedicate lanes for transit vehicles to reduce conflict between modes, improve transit operations, and further calm traffic. Funding for similar transit improvements along Colfax are included in the 2017 GO Bond. Unfortunately, City Council removed $9.8 million for transit enhancements along Federal during a final round of amendments to the GO Bond project list.

Build a coalition to revise Colorado state law to allow automated speed enforcement within broader contexts. Current law prohibits use of speed cameras along much of the High Injury Network – the 5% of Denver’s streets where 50% of the traffic fatalities occur – which includes Federal Boulevard. Automated enforcement is a proven technique used worldwide to reduce speed-related injuries and fatalities, and when deployed effectively actually results in fewer citations as safer travel speeds become the norm.

The project list was amended slightly on Aug. 7, when two council members, Councilmen Paul Lopez and Rafael Espinoza, representing Denver’s west side, successfully proposed reallocating $9.8 million. Instead of it being spent on transit infrastructure projects along Federal Boulevard, the money will be spent on Morrison Road, Federal, West Colfax Avenue and the Central Street Promenade.

When the two councilmen that represent the area preferred spending money elsewhere than on Federal that complicates things.

While the 2018 budget may provide another avenue I suspect that is largely already been determined and I’d think Hancock wants to support affordable housing since it wasn’t a part of the GO Bond proposal. Should be interesting.

Bernard Finucane

In 1980 I did my backpack summer tour of Europe. Forget the churches and castles, I was shocked by the pedestrian amenities. I discussed this with professors at my university and was literally laughed at.

I still often host American business visitors who can’t imagine America as a livable environment. The shittiest cities in Germany seem gorgeous to Americans. I’m talking about cities that were bombed flat in the 40s. It isn’t about historical landmarks. It’s really just a question of efficient use of land.

If you don’t want to walk down the main street of the city you live in, you need to start fixing things,

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